Redeem

God seems to have woven the theme of redemption through the lives of so many that I know this year. I've seen firsthand how he can put things back right. So, it should come as no surprise that my constant prayer throughout a lot of this adoption journey has been that God will redeem the time. Redeem the two and a half years that this boy has been without a family. Redeem the moments that we have missed..the firsts, the birthdays, the laughs, the smiles, the hurts, the cries. Redeem the opportunities for bonding. Redeem and give us back more than we can even imagine.

 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. Psalm 130:7

As we are getting ready to travel, my mind is so busy and cluttered - I'm finding myself asking God to redeem my mind! I've put dog toys in the garbage, put an empty green bean can in the spice cabinet, put crackers in the fridge, missed my turn while driving and thrown away one of Camden's dress shirts! No worries! I fished it back out and washed it, though!  There have been several things -usually at night- that I've thought about saying on this blog, but it seems that by morning I've lost the words. 

This I think you should know, though. As I heard my aunt Wanda say one time about her and her sweet husband Dean's life together, any good that you've seen in us is Jesus. Jim and I are ordinary, normal, dare I say boring. God is the God of adventure. He is the great lover who loves the least of these and sets the lonely in families. Redemption is his idea, his plan. Any good works that Jim or I might do are just filthy rags! If left to our own devices and selfishness we would mess this up every time! We'll still mess quite a bit up even with the Holy Spirit leading us, because you see we will sometimes choose our own selfish path and not do the best or the right thing- our flesh is weak even though our spirit is willing. It is God who's power is made perfect in our weakness. It is our privilege to glorify him. 

We will be flying out in just a few short days we would love to have you praying with us. Thank you so much!

What to Expect When You're Adopting....

You Know You're Adopting from China When:
1. You know your adoption agency's address by heart.
2.  You have the number for US Immigration saved in your phone.
3.  Your kids have watched Mulan more times that you can count.
4. You're trying to save money and your van literally starts falling to pieces!
5.  You've started paying attention to "Ni Hao, Kailan!" hoping you can learn a little Mandarin.
6. You stalk other adoption timelines constantly!
7.  You see little Chinese boys and girls everywhere you go.
8.  Getting an email with a few new pictures and a video is the best thing that's happened all month!
9.  You wake up at night with thoughts and prayers swirling around about paperwork and attachment and bonding and the list goes on and on!
10. Your kids bless your heart by praying for a brother they've never met to be safe and warm and loved.

Our paperwork continues to move right along.  On Wednesday of this week we received our I800 approval.  This means that US Immigration has now approved us to adopt Benjamin specifically.  By the time this is all over we will have been approved so many times that it won't even be funny!

Next up, will be the paperwork to get Benjamin's US visa in the works.  That process should take about 2 1/2 weeks and then we will be waiting on TRAVEL APPROVAL from China. :)

The end is in sight!  Well, actually the end is not in sight.  You see this process is kind of like a wedding ceremony that leads up to a marriage.  In just the same way that you hear people say that you need to put a lot more preparation into the marriage than you do the wedding, you need to put a lot more preparation into the raising of this sweet child than you do into the adoption process.  Yes, we will celebrate and be so overjoyed on the day that Benjamin is finally in our arms, but that will definitely just be the beginning.

We've been prepared by our agency to expect the worst, but to hope and pray for the best.  There are a lot of different ways that Benjamin could respond to this change.  On Gotcha day he may scream, he may cry, he may hit, he may be quiet, he may smile, he may laugh.  We just really don't know.  We do know that his nannies have said that he is shy and quiet, but who knows how he may express how he feels about this upheaval.  I've probably said it before, but it bears repeating.  His whole world is about to be rocked!  He will be sent with people that he doesn't know, who smell, look and sound different from anyone else that he has ever seen.  He will be eating new foods, traveling outside his orphanage for what will probably be the very first time in his two and a half years, seeing tons of new sights, living in a hotel room for the first time (which he may think is our house), and even riding on an airplane half way across the world.  That is a lot for a little guy to take in and that's just the changes that he'll experience in China.  Once we get home there will be two new brothers and a new sister for him to get used to, another new place, another new bed, more new smells, more new foods. A lot of new! We expect him to experience grief over the loss of his nannies, friends and familiar routine that he had in the orphanage.  We expect him to be overwhelmed.  But, we also know that God is a God of redemption and healing and that prayer can change much!  We will also try to do everything in our power to make this transistion easier for him.

With all these new experiences, Benjamin will also be experiencing the love of a family for the first time.  He will begin to understand that mama and daddy will always have food for me to eat, that they will always be there to comfort me when I cry, that they will always be there to listen to me and that they will always be there to take me to the doctor when I am sick.  He will begin to learn that mamas don't just work the day shift or the night shift.  They don't come and go.  He'll learn that this mama and this daddy are here to stay.  To help him learn these things, though, we're going to have to make sure that he knows that we're mama and daddy.  I know it may seem silly, but think of that Dr. Seuss book "Are You My Mama?"  It's kind of like his little heart has always been asking that question.  He's not sure if the nannies are mama.  Is it the orphanage director?  Is it this new lady who's come to get me and is taking me to all these new places?  Is it this lady that came to our house to bring food once I was home?  Is it this person who comes to visit and is wanting to hug and kiss me?  Which one is mama?  Which one is daddy?

So,  for the first little while we will be asking you to help us with some things.  All of these things have been recommended to us by our agency and by the International Adoption Clinic.  We'll be asking that Jim and I be the only ones to hold, cuddle, hug, kiss and snuggle Benjamin.  We'll need to be the ones feeding him, getting him dressed, changing diapers, putting him to bed, giving him a bottle (Yes, you read that right!  We will be giving him a bottle for as long as we can!  Bottle feeding is great for attachment!) etc. We have missed out on making these connections with him for 2 1/2 years and we have a lot of ground to make up!  And, as hard as it is for me to say this, we also won't be encouraging him to interact with you.  With our other kids (shy though the have been!) we have always encouraged them to say hi or give a high five.  We won't do that with Benjamin.  We won't be discouraging these things forever, but until we know that Benjamin is securely attached with us as mom and dad we will.  You see a lot of times kids from orphanage settings give attention and affection to anyone and everyone hoping for attention.  So while it may seem like a good thing that a newly adopted child seems comfortable with strangers and is willing to give out hugs and kisses, it actually is not.  We need him to see that there are certain relationships in which affection is given more freely than others.  We need him to distinguish us from the store clerk or restaurant waiter when he is giving and receiving affection. Our discipline strategies will also look different with him.  He has a different past than our other three and we will always have to remember that.

It will probably be at least a week or two before we even let grandparents come around.  Maybe a month for close friends and taking him to church for the first time.  Probably more like 6 months to a year before we let him go to class at church (church classrooms look a lot like orphangages!).  But, please don't think we are writing you off!  We will need help and support during this time.  We'll need help with meals (so that I can concentrate more on making sure all four kids are adjusting well), taking our other kids places, kind words of encouragement and understanding.  We really don't know how everyone is going to adjust to this life change.  It may be very hard for a while.  Our lives, our house, our wardrobe choices may look crazy! We may not be able to be involved in as much and we may always be late! Who knows?!  As much as we would like to, we may not attach to Benjamin right away and he may not attach to us right away. This is actually very common. It may take time.  Please, though, if you hear us saying something about the difficult parts, please do not ever think that we are second guessing our decision.  We knew going in that this would be difficult.  It does not make us heroes.  It makes us really dependent on God!  We are ready for him to do big things in our life and in Benjamin's life and we are trusting him to work it all out for his glory!

Measuring Luggage and Sizing up God's Care

You know that when you start pulling the luggage out of the closet and actually measuring it with a tape measure that you're getting close to something!  We are getting much, much closer to being able to hold sweet Benjamin.  Not close enough for my liking,  but so much closer than we were! We will likely travel early to mid October.  To tide us over we received a new update last week.  Enjoy the pictures of our sweet guy below. Better than Christmas I tell you!!

Sweet boy learning to blow kisses with one of his nannies. 

 On July 28th we received our Letter of Acceptance from China.  Getting this letter was a HUGE step!! This means that China has officially approved us to become Benjamin's parents.  The only steps that are left are all on the US side of things until we get to the point where China is able to issue travel approval to us. And, did I mention that there are only 6 steps left before we actually travel?  Just six little steps and they're not big steps either! Small steps compared to the steps we've already taken!

The wait for our Letter of Acceptance was very hard for me.  Our agency had told us that the wait for that little FedEx package could be anywhere from 30 to 90 days - and sometimes longer.  Ours actually came on day 63 of our wait, which is relatively short compared to some of the wait times I've seen lately.  So, yes, I am a waiting wimp!  I'm pretty sure it has to do with a lack of control.  ;)   I've known for quite some time (actually all my life) that I like to be in control, but never was that more apparent than during this wait.  God is faithful, though, and he showed me something during this time.

You see on about day 57 or so I was done! I know, wimp!  I was so down in the dumps thinking we'd never get to China.  My mind kept thinking of Benjamin's medical issues and just the fact that he's in an orphanage without a family and I was a wreck!  I wanted to be there now!  There was not a doubt in my mind that God was big enough to work in this situation.  I kept repeating Ephesians 3:20-21 in my mind.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,  according to his power that is at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

My real question wasn't God's power. It was his care and compassion.  I knew that he could act, that he could move mountains, so why wasn't he?  Didn't he care about Benjamin, about us?

That afternoon, as I questioned, God answered.  I had to take my oldest to swim practice and I just decided to wait for him in the car.  My two younger kids were asleep in the backseat and I needed a mama time-out.  I got my phone out and decided to read a blog post that I had skipped over earlier that day.  This post was written by another China adoption mom and she was describing how they had revealed to their parents whether they were adopting a boy or a girl.  It was a cute post and it took my mind off things for a while.  When I got to the end of the post, though, she talked about how they had decided to name their little boy Benjamin.  Benjamin?  My radar went up.  She said that they had been a little unsure about the name, but then she turned in her Bible one day to a fairly random place and read these words from Deuteronomy 33:12.

About Benjamin he said: "Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders."

You are kidding me! God did not have me a read a verse about Moses giving his blessing to the tribes of Israel and it specifically say that Benjamin is his beloved, that he rests secure in him and that the Lord shields him all day long on the very day that I was questioning his care and love for our Benjamin!  God is good!  He is working this all out for our good and His glory!! 

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! Psalm 96:3

Because we are getting closer to travel time, I am going to  try to write several blog posts this week. 

Houston, we have a name! + Updates! + Seeing God in all this

Have I said that this waiting is not for the faint of heart?! This week we'll pass the 9 month mark in our adoption journey.  That's relatively short for an international adoption, but I can't help but think that with our other babies we were holding them in our arms after 9 months of waiting, but with our new little guy we have about 3-5 more months before we can get to him.  We all have gotten into the habit of looking at the clock, factoring in the time difference and then wondering what he's doing right about that time.  In the grand scheme of things, though, we know that 5 more months is not really that much longer and that the wait will be worth it. 

Worth the wait...

We have been able to pass some important milestones lately.  Our dossier (basically the story of our lives with supporting documents to back it up!) was sent to China on May 13th and then we found out that we were logged into the Chinese system on May 26th.  Both of these are giant steps forward!! We are now waiting on our Letter of Acceptance(LOA).  This letter will officially approve us to adopt....Benjamin.  Yes, that's right another important milestone.  We finally settled on a name.  After going over a list of about 4-5 names for several weeks we finally decided that he looks like a Benjamin.  I'll tell you, I think it's harder to name a child that's already here.  It's been much tougher to match the right name to his little face!  Our boys and Jim too, pretty much, still call him by his Chinese name (which we'll keep as a middle name), but Jessa and I are calling him Benjamin. :)  It is pretty cute to hear her say that name.  She says it very precisely.  Ben.JA.miin.

                    

                          Does he look like a Benjamin? 

Oh, and a funny for her.  Jessa stayed with my grandmother the other day and I was getting Jessa to tell my grandmother who it was that we were going to pick up from China, mainly just because I think it's cute when she says his name. But, then when I came back to pick her up she said, "Mama, you forgot to pick up Benjamin!" Ooops! I guess she thought I was going to China right then.  

She's a funny girl!

Also, I wanted to take a second to write down some of the neat things that have helped us to see God in this process.
-meeting another China adoptive family the day after we decided to begin our adoption
-feeling such a peace about adding this particular little guy to our family
-learning that Jim's sister is friends with an adoptive mama who's son had been a patient of the same surgeon that will operate on Benjamin and being able to contact her to ask questions
-being able to email several family friends who have been through this journey
-being able to talk with good friends here about the joys and struggles that go with adopting
-Being DTC (dossier to China) by my birthday (this was something that I kept praying about and hoping would happen)
-receiving money from family and friends to help us complete this adoption
-looking back at Facebook for Benjamin's birthdate to see what I might have been doing that day and finding that the day before his birthdate I had just finished reading Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis (a great read on adoption, going on God's great adventure and dying to self)
-and the biggest deal for me so far - after beginning to get nervous about Benjamin's medical condition, care, surgery and recovery - I was able to connect with an adoptive mama who has gone through the same thing! This was great for me!  Benjamin's condition is a little on the rare side and it's even more rare to find a child with the same condition that has been adopted and his/her condition wasn't repaired shortly after birth.  I posted a question to a China advocacy page on Facebook and within 2 hours, I had an email sitting in my inbox from a mama that had adopted a little girl 7 years ago with this same condition!  Her daughter came home at about a year old and she had not had a surgical repair yet.  This is very similar to Benjamin's situation.  Better yet, she called me the next day and was SO sweet.  She told me all about her daughter's surgery, care and recovery and let me ask all my questions. She gave me a very real perspective which was exactly what I needed. Then she sent me a link to her blog and lo and behold she had documented the whole process!  I think the Holy Spirit must have had her write that blog knowing how much peace and comfort it would give me later!  We're going to have a long road ahead of us when we bring Benjamin home, but my heart and mind are so much more prepared now that I have a better idea of what to expect! I had really started to worry and had asked God to take away my fear.  He did just that by putting me into contact with this woman! The last line of her last email to me said, "Blessings on your adoption. It's hard work but if we don't, who will?"

                                                         
                                                                                 Ready to add one more to our fun crew! 

Rest Assured

Last Friday, Good Friday, Jim and I went together to attend Secret Church at the Church at Brookhills in Birmingham, AL.  It was an intense time of Bible study (7 hours to be exact!) and prayer for the persecuted church in Turkey. This time in the word was so refreshing and uplifting to our spirits.  The study guide we were given was filled with scripture after scripture after scripture - all God-breathed and all made for reproof, correction and training.

I was a goner from the very beginning of the night, though, because the row in front of us was filled with college age boys who were so intent on worshipping God and studying his word.  It made this mama of boys extremely glad and I didn't even know them! :) I just kept thinking and praying, "Yes, Lord, please, I want this for my boys! (and my girl, but I was particularly thinking of my boys) I want them to have a passion for you and your word!"

Seeing this group of boys especially touched my heart because toward the end of the row was an Asian boy and you could tell he was ALL IN and of course I just kept thinking of our boy in China! We can't wait for him to know the love of a family and the love of Jesus!

All of the night's study was related to the gospel and how it effects our everyday life. Toward the end of our time of study we came to the topic of rest and how the gospel effects our rest.  We read many scriptures about how we can trust God and rest in Him amidst fear, anxiety, trial and trouble.  We can trust his sovereignty and his goodness.  And this again brought my thoughts back to our little guy and our adoption process. 

A couple of weeks ago I sent out a text to my mom, my aunts and a few of the ladies that I look up to at our church.  I asked them to pray that the updated video that we have been waiting on for over two months would come in that very day! I was so tired of waiting and so anxious to know that our boy was ok and was doing well. (Definitely the waiting and the not knowing are the hardest parts of this whole process!) I knew that these ladies would go before God in a powerful way on our behalf, and I just knew that that video would be in my inbox before the day was out.  But, it wasn't.  In fact, we still haven't been able to receive it.  Do you want to know the strange thing, though?  From the moment that I sent that text and began to get texts in return assuring me that they were praying, a peace and a rest came over my soul.  The fog of sadness and funk that I had been in for a couple of weeks began to lift.  My soul knew without a shadow of a doubt that my God heard those prayers, I knew that he is mighty and powerful to act and that He loves me (and our boy) in a fierce way.  My heart and mind were put at ease because I knew that if we weren't receiving that video that it was because God was doing something greater in our lives.  I could REST in the grace and knowledge that my God is a GOOD God and he knows how to give the very BEST gifts.  He has been shaping me throughout this process.  Chiseling.  Teaching my heart to submit, to wait, to have hope, to have peace and my friends those things are worth more than gold or dare I say, a video.  ;)

And, just by way of update.  I've now added a new page that shows our adoption timeline.  This shows the steps we've already completed as well as what's still to come.  If you're interested in adoption or just interested in how much more we have left to do, please see the tabs at the top of the page and click on the one labeled adoption timeline. Or just click this link http://redthreadofhope.blogspot.com/p/adoption-timeline.html

 I can't tell you how many of these I've looked at on other people's blogs! 

And lastly, we sent out five grant applications today. Whew! Prayers going up!

Not our Plan

Plans.  Are funny things. I am a planner.  When I taught public school one of my most favorite parts of the day was my planning period - and not just because it was my chance to go to the bathroom, grab a drink or snack and regain a little sanity. ;) I loved writing out my plans for the days and weeks to come in nice, neat little boxes.  I loved thinking about how the day would unfold in an orderly fashion, every kid learning to their full potential all the while having fun and thinking that I was the best teacher ever.  Are you beginning to understand that I was/am a bit optimistic? Of course, it never I'm mean rarely happened that way.  Don't get me wrong! I had some great days teaching the children in my classes.  Some days where I actually got to see the light bulb of learning blink on for the very first time. Several days where the majority of my classes were engaged in learning all. at. the. same. time.(My teacher friends can relate!) I can hardly think of a week, however, where at the end I looked at my plan book and there were no erasures, no additional plans sloppily written in on the sides or arrows directing this days activities to another.  They warn you in all of your teacher preparation classes that flexibility is a must for this job - and guess what - they are right! 
Flexibility is a must, and not just for public school teachers.  It is a must for life in general.  Now that I homeschool our kiddos, I see it even more.  Plans are no different here at home.  They change. We have to rearrange, switch and replan on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. 
So when our adoption plans began to change, I'm not sure why I was surprised. :) I recently read a blog where an adoptive dad quoted one of his friends as saying, "There are your plans and then there are God's plans and your plans don't count.".  That my friends is something that we are beginning to see. Our ways are not his ways and our thoughts not his thoughts (Isaiah 55:8).  But, we can trust that all of his paths are loving and faithful (Psalm 25:10). 
When we began this journey we were somewhat open to adding either a boy or a girl to our family, but we were leaning (somewhat heavily) toward a girl.  Our thinking was that Jessa needed a sister and that a sister might fit more easily into our family.  We were also thinking that we wanted a child as young as possible so that there would be a sizeable age difference between the new baby and Jessa. We also had in mind that we were open primarily to minor correctable needs.  Then a few things began to happen.  We began to learn of the growing need for boys to be adopted and a seed began to be planted that maybe we should be more open to adding another boy to our family.  Then we were sent an email by our agency that included the pictures and profiles of some children that were in need of a family.  In this email were two children that we felt were in our age range (younger than Jessa).  One was a girl that had special needs that seemed manageable and one was a boy that we weren't exactly sure what his listed special need meant.  We decided to ask for more information on both.  The funny thing is that I was drawn more to the girl. The name that the agency used was one that I had always liked.  I thought perhaps it was a sign. ;) Little did I know! The boy was a cutie and was the right age, so I simply thought, "Well, we'll ask for his info too."  I emailed our social worker and she let me know that the little girl's file was already on hold with another family, but she immediately sent me the file for the little boy. I opened the file and saw the cutest little smile, dark hair and dark eyes staring back at me.  As I continued to look through the file, though, I realized that his medical needs were a little more complex than I had first assumed.  I also realized that he was much closer in age to Jessa than we had previously thought.  They'd basically be twins.  So, as I'm looking, I'm trying not to get too attached because I'm thinking that Jim will come home and say, "No, I don't think this is the one."  Oh, how I underestimated the Holy Spirit and Jim's willingness to submit!! Have I told you how I love that man!! He came home that night and viewed the file and was just as calm as a cucumber, the word "no" never came out of his mouth.  Now I had prayed before he got home that God would help me to let Jim's decision speak for our family.  If Jim said it was a no, I could be at peace with it.  But the "no" just never came.  We went a few more days and that little face kept popping up in our minds.  We finally decided to put his file on hold and get it reviewed by the International Adoption Clinic at Vanderbilt.  Let me just say that the doctor there is wonderful!! She gave us a run down of what the possibilities might be with his medical condition and she had his file reviewed by a specialist. The what-ifs were slightly overwhelming.  But Jim and I talked after speaking with her and God kept laying the same thoughts on our hearts.  Does every life really matter?  Could we just turn our backs on that little face?  Do we really believe that God uses the weak to display his strength?  We then asked our agency for an update on him and received a couple of little videos.  The videos are priceless and precious!! But again, I was the one that kept letting worry niggle at my brain and Jim was the one who had peace, but I kept feeling that I needed to submit to his leadership for our family.  Peace continued to grow in my heart and then God helped us to find a news story about a little girl who had been adopted with the same medical condition and she was doing great! Then just two days later Jim's sister told us of some friends that they knew that had adopted a little boy with a similar condition.  They had even used the same specialist that had reviewed our file at Vanderbilt and they loved him!  All of this was confirmation for our hearts, so on March 10, 2014 we decided to submit our letter of intent for this little guy.  We received our preapproval from China on March 27th and we are SO excited!!  We still have several hoops to jump through before we can bring him home, but we are so glad to be on this road.  It will probably be sometime in the fall before we travel. 
As I look back, I know that if things were not being worked out this way, that I would have depended too much on my own strength.  If we would  have accepted a referral of a child that completely matched with our plans, I would have been too quick to pat myself on the back - thinking that it had all worked out just as I had planned.  But, God...he knew.  He knew my heart and he had a plan.  :) 
We're not quite ready to share a pic on the world wide web yet, but if you see us out and about we'll proudly show you our little guy!  He is so adorable!!
We also humbly ask for your prayers:


1) Please pray that our little guy will stay healthy, that he will get loving attention from the nannies and that God would prepare his heart for us to come. 


2) Please pray that we will continue to seek to slow life down for our family, so that we can give intentional care and attention to our three little people at home before our world is rocked.  ;)


3) Please pray that God will continue to use this process to strengthen our marriage and our family. 


4) Please pray that we will receive our I800 approval quickly, that our dossier submission will go smoothly and that after we submit our dossier that we will receive our letter of approval (our official match!) in 34 days or less (34 days is the quickest that I have heard of, so that's what I'm going to ask for!!).  P.S. It's ok if you don't know what any of this means! God does!


Thank you, thank you!!!

Sing Over Us

It's been awhile since I've written any sort of update.  There truly just hasn't been a whole lot to tell.  We are nearing the end of the homestudy process! Yay! (Happy dance, here!) After our homestudy is finalized we'll have some immigration paperwork to take care of and then we'll be able to send off our dossier to China Then, we will eagerly await a log-in date with the Chinese government.  After we receive our log-in date we will be able to be matched with a child. (Big smile, here!) We are trying to be patient, but sometimes it is harder than others.  I don't think that I was totally prepared to already feel like we have a child that is half a world away. I know that as we see her picture in a few months that that feeling will just continue to grow and our urgency to get her quickly will intensify.  This feeling of her being half a world away hit me the other day as I was watching Jessa play....

A few days ago Jessa was in my bathroom and she was singing.  I was in my bedroom folding clothes, but I could watch and hear her well.  I noticed she was singing to herself.  She likes to do this, but this time I noticed that she was singing a silly song that the boys and I made up for her.  You see when Jessa was born she was a very bald baby.  Practically no hair at all and we all thought it was adorable.  She still doesn't have much and she's cute as a button.  One day when she was about 6 months old or so, she was very fussy and I was trying to calm her down by singing.  None of the traditional favorites, "Jesus Loves Me", "Rockabye Baby", "The Wheels on the Bus", were working, so I started making something up just to see if it would surprise her into stopping her crying and listening.  The boys were playing in the room too and somehow we came up with these silly lyrics, "Myyyy sweet Jessa bug, She's the one we call our little bald, bald baby!".  Lyrical genius at its best folks! It worked, though!! And for months if she was upset one of us could sing that song and she would quiet right down.  We don't sing it quite as much anymore because thankfully she doesn't fuss quite as much and truthfully the little smartie knows that if I sing it now I'm trying to get her to go to sleep and she goes on high alert. But a few days ago when I noticed her singing, it was this song that she was singing to herself.  Over and over again.  Sometimes she'd use her name and sometimes she'd use other family members' names.  It was especially funny when she sung my brother's name, "My sweet, Jawad (Jarrod), he's the one we call our little bald, bald baby!" I'm sure he wouldn't have appreciated being called  a bald, bald baby! Ha! After I chuckled to myself, though, a thought began to sink in.  We sang that silly song over her in her time of trouble.  We sang it so that she would know that she was safe and that she was loved.  Now she knows it well enough that she can sing the song back to herself and apply it to others.......Isn't this what God does for us?  Zephaniah 3:17 says,

"The Lord your God is with you,
    the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
    but will rejoice over you with singing." 

The Lord God rejoices over each of us with singing! He sings over us in his great redemptive love.  He sings his song over us so that we can sing the song for ourselves.  He sings so that we know that we know that we know that He loves us. He patiently sings, until we know that we are loved and safe, He sings.  Then we in turn are able to go and sing to others of His great love.  What a great comfort.  

Then wrapped up in this moment I prayed that God would be there in China, where we can't be yet.  That he would sing over our baby.  That she would know even before she knows us, that she is loved and that she is safe.  That she would know that she has a family that is waiting and even better that she has a Savior and that He delights in her.  That he is a warrior who is present and will save.  That he will rejoice over her with singing.  

Jim told me that he heard this song on the radio the other day.  It pretty well sums it up.  Merry Christmas! Click here to listen to Third Day's Merry Christmas. :)